Hijacking Identities

Kevin Howard

Race associatively could be thought of as division. Historically that is exactly what it has done. Specifically, in the Americas and more uniquely in the U.S. Race has become an institution on its own and its maintenance is a continuous working project. Ossorio takes into account the different societal elements that have fostered race and nurture it. Within the first episode of Race: The power of Illusion Ossorio explains that this divide, this supposed difference between “groups” of people is nothing more than an orchestrated fallacy. Imposed on society specifically in the U.S to create inorganic divisions between people. As evidence to her claim, Ossorio turns to the use of genetics as a tool to scientifically prove that people have little difference between each other. Her use of genetics comes to lessen the biological gap created during the 19^th and 20^th century when common belief was certain groups of people were essentially different and therefore placed them hierarchically in respect to other groups of people. Genetics can and has given the physical proof that as a species humans share a similar biological foundation that links them together. Surface variations are nothing more than environmental subjections.

            Personally race has been a very obscure subject. It has never been much of importance to me. Having to define myself has rarely fallen on a racial identification but much rather metaphysical aspects of myself that presumably mean more to people. Among a certain group of people there is the very common question of “what are you” which has been sarcastically answered with “I’m human” but has that been ignorance or just the rejection of placing myself into a category or a square it is not so clear. When forced and in many instances it has been, I am categorized as racially mixed, being Central American and Irish it would seem fitting and yet there are some who see me being either or and not the two put together. On school and government forms other or mixed is usually the box checked off. If next to that other or mixed box there is an underlined free space to explain then that liberty is taken, making the reason for checking “other” more clear. Personally race is not really a part of my identity because I am mixed, two cultures, two languages and two origins it isn’t so easy to say your one without the other for me. For most of my life I’ve laid more claim to nationalistic categories than racial ones.

            After the documentary the concept of race expanded to mean the culmination of beliefs around difference. That being said would following a “racial logic” make sense anymore? If science has proven to us that race is in fact an “illusion” then would my identifying with a race not make my entire identity in itself an illusion? Ossorio’s work has granted me the power to concretize my identity beyond race.   

http://www.pbs.org/show/black-in-latin-america/

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/07/156306806/super-mario-challenges-the-idea-of-whos-an-italian
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/08/13/211336128/italys-first-black-minister-finds-herself-a-target-of-slurs